That's a Wrap
by Weavillain
Summary: Dealing with Lori had always been a bit of a hassle during Christmastime. Lynn Sr. and Rita loved her deeply, but they both understood that something had to be done about her and her...urges.


**A/N:** This story makes sense if you subscribe to the loose sense of continuity that the show has. Otherwise, you're gonna be wondering why none of the events of "11 Louds a Leapin'" align with this fic.

* * *

The snow fell silent on the early morning of Christmas Eve; two parents crept through their house with nearly as much stillness.

Their comings and goings from the basement were arduous and time-consuming, but Lynn Sr. and Rita were _finally_ finished, their secret agenda in the books. Though weariness soaked in their bones and the lull of drowsiness made their ascent up the basement staircase a struggle, the couple were successful in not only moving about without collapsing from exhaustion but without waking up anyone in the process. Their biggest concern centered on their eldest child, though. Unlike their other children (whom they had already filled in on what they were up to), for _her_ sake, they were trying to keep quiet beyond the mere courtesy of ensuring that they wouldn't disturb her sleep—for Lori, keeping her out of the loop was of paramount importance until everything was ready.

At last, after what felt like an eternity, Lynn Sr. and Rita finally made it up the stairs. While Lynn Sr. slowly closed the door, trying to suppress the screechy squeaks that creaked from the hinges, Rita let out a tired yawn and stretched her arms over her head, faint popping sounds coming from her elbows.

"Well, that's everything," Lynn Sr. whispered, shutting the door with a tiny _*click*_ before he walked over to his wife.

Rita let out another yawn. "Thank goodness," she whispered back. "The only times I remember feeling _this_ bushed were the nights we spent tending to the twins when they were babies."

Though the whole point of everything was being quiet, Lynn Sr. couldn't help but chuckle loudly as his wife's remark took him on a little trip down memory lane.

"I hear that," he replied, looking back at those times with fondness, despite the hardships. "A set of crying babies can really test a person's patience."

" _Especially_ at four in the morning."

With that, the worn-out couple made their way to their bedroom, too tired to shut the door behind them as they collapsed onto their bed. While Rita slipped under the covers and laid on her side, her husband sidled up behind her, spooning her as his arm wrapped around her midsection. Even in the darkened room, Lynn Sr. could tell that there was more than sleepiness that weighed on his wife's mind. Sure enough, his intuition wound up being true once Rita spoke.

"I hope Lori likes your plan," she said. "We spent one hundred thirty-eight dollars into making sure that she's not gonna be poking her nose around, looking for presents to unwrap before Christmas."

Lynn Sr. brought his face close to the back of Rita's neck, pressing a firm kiss against her skin. He beamed when he felt her melt and heard her let out a tiny purr.

"No need to fret, Rita," Lynn Sr. assured, sporting a cocky smirk. "Let's not forget that even though our son likes to call himself 'The Man with The Plan', he's _still_ a chip off the old block."

Rita shifted around, doing so until she was staring his husband dead in the eye. By now, their eyes were adjusted enough to the darkness for Lynn Sr. to see his wife's lips forming a smirk of her own and for the light of the twinkle in her eye to shine though.

" _That's_ what I'm worried about," she said, her jovial tone telling him that she was only joking.

Taking her jab in stride, Lynn Sr. whispered, his intentions for a much more pleasant evening bleeding through his saucy tone, "I see _someone_ wants to be on my naughty list."

"Oh?" Rita retorted, nestling her head underneath her husband's chin while she lazily drew a finger over his chest. "I was under the impression I already was."

Needless to say, from that point on, their sleepiness was all but forgotten.

* * *

 _ **LATER THAT EVENING…**_

* * *

Right now, Lori was a bundle of nerves, trembling with giddy anticipation.

After dinner, before she could go and do anything else (like getting her fingers on some gifts to unwrap, relishing the heavenly sound of tearing and the sight of the paper fluttering about like confetti), she was quite _literally_ blinded—thanks to her mother, a blindfold was wrapped around her face. From that point, her mother led her by the hand, walking her out of the dining room.

To where? According to her mother, the basement.

Why? For some sort of surprise; given the time of year, Lori could only guess it was some sort of present.

What kind? _That_ was something that she was kept from knowing as her mother kept denying her the answer. That left Lori with no choice but to keep making blind guesses as to what it was that her mother had in store for her.

"Is it a cashmere scarf?!"

"Nope."

"Is it a GX-7 Driver?!"

"Nope."

"Is it a new car, all for me?!

"Nope."

Rita cracked a grin at _that_ guess; Lori was clearly too excited to realize that there was no way that they could get a whole car inside the house.

"Is it an all-expenses paid trip to Cairo?!"

"Oh, most _definitely_ not."

As Lori continued to spout out more guesses, each one more ludicrous than the last, Rita approached the basement, carefully leading her blind daughter down the stairs. Once they reached the bottom, Lori was silent, no longer bustling about with aimless chattering, since she knew that everything was about to be revealed to her. Still, she couldn't keep herself from quivering with eagerness.

Then, in one swift motion, the blindfold was peeled off. Her eyes, used to the darkness of the cloth, stung as they were bathed in light, but the momentary discomfort was soon forgotten once she gained her bearings. She gasped, her hands brought up to hold her cheeks in her palms, once she laid sight on what was once hidden from her. Her father was in the middle of the room, his arms spread wide as he smiled proudly.

"Ta-da!" he cried in unison with his wife, who joined his side a few seconds later.

They let their daughter soak in her environment in for a few seconds longer before they said anything, savoring her shocked expression. Her reaction was even more than they expected from her, though they couldn't blame her—it wasn't every day that one would come across the sight of every square inch of the basement, save the floor, concealed underneath gift wrap.

"The two of us figured that we could help you out with your 'gift unwrapping' impulse," Rita said, "so we spent most of the morning wrapping up everything in the basement for you."

"This way," Lynn Sr. added, "you can go nuts down here and stay out of trouble; no need to comb the house for presents when you got everything you need to suit your needs, right?"

He got his answer when, instead of replying with words, a huge, crazed grin broke out on Lori's face as she raced off towards the wrapped up washing machine, leaping on it before she started to tear into the paper. She cackled maddeningly, her wild hollering and lunatic enthusiasm quickly settling in on her parents, who found themselves slightly perturbed by the spectacle.

"Well, uh…" Lynn Sr. uttered lowly.

"L-looks like the plan worked, honey," Rita said, watching with awe as her daughter continued to tear through her gift-wrapped playpen with wild abandon.

"A little… _too_ well, I'll admit, but at least this'll keep her occupied for a good while."

Wanting to leave her daughter to her own devices, Rita suggested, "Say, wanna help me finish off the rest of Ruth's eggnog?"

Just as longing to allow Lori to indulge herself in peace as his wife was, Lynn Sr. took her up on her offer. "I thought you'd never ask," he replied.

Upon leaving the basement, however, they were crestfallen when they discovered that Lynn had already drank it all.

* * *

 _ **TWO HOURS LATER…**_

* * *

As if to say "I told you so", Lynn Sr. flashed Rita a triumphant grin at what they came across when they made their way down the basement stairs to check up on Lori. The final piece of his scheme came into play when, as he predicted, Lori was dozing off in the middle of the floor, tuckered out from all the extreme "gift" unwrapping she had done in the past two hours.

Shreds of paper shrouded most of her body, the remaining scraps littering the floor. Lynn Sr. and Rita knew that they had another long night ahead of them cleaning up such a huge mess, but getting their daughter to bed was their top priority now.

Walking over to Lori, Lynn Sr. slid his arms underneath her, doing so carefully enough to not jostle her awake. "Upsy-daisy," he muttered, almost effortlessly scooping her off the floor and holding her closely.

He heard his wife snicker behind him as she approached her. She bent down and stroked Lori's cheek, letting out another stifled laugh when Lori twitched and murmured drowsily.

"What's so funny?" Lynn Sr. asked in a whisper, despite the smile that was on his face from the contagiousness of Rita's amusement.

Rita shook her head. "It's nothing," she sighed wistfully. "I'm just feeling a little nostalgic seeing you carry Lori like that."

Lynn Sr. looked back down at Lori, and a pang of warm fuzziness spread through his chest at the sight of her sleeping in his arms, almost as if she were an infant—it nearly brought a tear to his eye.

"Yeah," he said, full of understanding. "I know what you mean."

As the two gingerly walked up the stairs, doing their best to keep quiet, they continued their conversation.

"So, Rita?" Lynn Sr. asked, taking a moment to look back at his wife as she treaded behind him.

"Yes?" she answered.

"Would you say it was worth the one hundred thirty-eight dollars for all the gift wrap?"

Though she couldn't see the peaceful happy look on Lori's face from here, Rita didn't need to look upon it for assurance—she had the fond memory emblazoned in her mind to know the answer, which came to her immediately.

"Yes," Rita replied, "it was _more_ than worth it."

* * *

 **A/N:** "That's a Wrap" is a title with more meaning than you might think. Besides it being another one of my lame pun-based titles, this fic serves as the last fanfiction I'll be uploading for the year. With that in mind, I couldn't think of a better way to end things than with the story featuring my favorite character of the show, Lori.

Well, that's all for now for 2017. I hope you all had a wonderful time this holiday season, and I wish you all a fantastic happy new year!


End file.
